Lay With Me
by Paper pens and ink
Summary: Richie's head was spinning when Eddie jumped into that hammock with him. Having just acknowledged his feelings for his best friend, he can't help but wish they could be more. The extended hammock scene we deserve


It was a strange feeling. The sort of thing that only the main characters of those cheesy romantic comedy movies feel. Well not exactly. Sure it was like he had butterflies in his stomach, but those nasty bugs seemed to turn his insides upside down, leaving him with this unbearable and irrepressible feeling of nausea. Richie has just finally come to terms with his feelings for Eddie and there was a carefully crafted carving on the Kissing Bridge to prove it.

The issue is that Derry isn't exactly the best spot to have this sort of secret, and your best friend isn't the best person to have a crush on, especially when he does stupid stuff like this. Eddie had just forced himself into the one-person hammock the Losers installed just a couple days ago despite it being occupied by Trashmouth Tozier himself. Naturally Eddie would want a go at it, which is probably why Richie overstayed his welcome and acted so coy when confronted, but at the end of the day, he loved his and Eds daily teasing sessions; they were the only things that made him feel like a normal kid who wasn't being terrorized by a man eating clown thing.

Usually, he wasn't so self-aware and nervous when his arm or leg brushed Eddie's, but ever since he admitted to himself that he wanted more than a friendship full of bickering with his closest friend, this sort of skin on skin contact always made him feel a little uneasy. And now, having his crush sit across from him, squirming around the unstable hammock, desperately trying to get comfortable, made him feel like his insides were on fire.

So, Richie tried to play it off with a classic Loser eyeroll before staring back at the page of the comic book he's been pretending to read for the past couple minutes. To make things worse, the asthmatic kid wasn't content with the lack of attention so he had the brilliant idea to stick his foot in Richie's face and remove his glasses with a quick movement.

"Oh god," the now blind boy thought to himself. "He chooses now to be a smart ass. A cute smart ass, but an ass nonetheless." Part of him wishes he could just go back to the way things were before he acknowledged his sexual orientation, back to when he could put his arm around Eds without flinching. But then again, he was never completely unaware of his feelings for him and he always flirtatiously called him names and poked fun at his beloved mother as a coping mechanism.

Richie has been so deep in his train of thought for got knows how much time, that when he finally came to, the boy who's spaghetti legs were resting on to of his was already sound asleep. He turned to the other losers who were sitting on the ground and engaged in their own activities and figured that even though they weren't watching now, but if they did they would obviously find his position to be compromising. "Last time I had a Kaspbrak in between my legs, she was-" "Beep Beep Richie," the Losers whispered in unison, cutting off Tozier's attempt at heterosexual cover up.

That earned yet another eyeroll from him as he kicked one of his legs out of the hammock and carefully leaned over to grab his thick framed glasses from the spot on the floor Eddie's foot had thrown them at. With his newly recovered vision, he could now make out the traits from his friend's round, smooth face that was covered by stands of hair that composed the messy bed head he had. His eyes lingered on his face a little more, until they made their way down to those ridiculous little shorts he always wore. "Cute cute cute" he said to himself. With that last thought, he tried to regain his original position, only to realize that somehow he had no space left for his stray leg. He even tried folding it on top of his other leg but that made the entire hammock tilt sideways so he eventually gave up on his own comfort and let his leg rest on the floor awkwardly. He no longer felt like staring at that comic book that was now resting on his chest so he let his mind wonder a little bit more. He imagined the feeling of Eds warm skin as he saw himself wrap his hand around the other boy's ankle and just hold it there. Then he saw himself reach over to his face to put that stray hair back in place. "How pathetic do I have to be to live in my head like this?" He hated how, for a moment there, he allowed himself to feel that warm, fuzzy feeling that came along with his fantasies. That made the reality of things even more brutal.

Richie knew he was destined for a closeted life. Even if, in a million years, Eddie somehow liked him back, he knew there was no was they could ever be an openly gay couple in these modern times. Besides, all of that was hypothetical; there was no way in hell he'd ever like him back, right? Right. But damn those spaghetti legs, damn those smooth, pale, blemish free spaghetti legs that just happened to be propped up against his own body. He wished he could chase those thoughts away but the more he thought about it, the hotter Eds skin felt on his own. A smile crept on his face as he thought of the witty remark the boy would've made if he was awake. He's probably say something about how disgusting Richie was for not showering in the past two days despite all the filth they walked through. Or how his clothes were probably dirtying his little boy shorts just by the smallest contact.

He felt bad though since he knew that somehow Eddie truly believed all those germ related comments he made, man his mom had fed that kid some lies. But let's be honest, he loves that part of him; he loves how different and wrong they are for each other. He loves how scared he gets before gathering all his bravery and proving everyone wrong. But most of all, he loves how, little by little, his Eds has been mirroring his own behaviour, slowly becoming just as chaotic as he is. I mean that episode with the paddleball? That had Richie written all over it. Maybe Mrs. Kapbrak was right, maybe he was a bad influence but hey, he doesn't mind rubbing off on him a little, it makes him a better opponent.

"Earth to Trashmouth," the sleepy voice muttered. Richie readjusted his glasses as he always does whenever his crush talks to him and turned his head to face him. As he did so, he noticed he had been rocking the hammock with his stray leg this whole time as he was staring off into space. "What do you want?" He simply responded with a with a playful grin to let his friend know he wasn't actually upset. "Move over, I can't even feel my arm!" Eddie growled tapping Richie's leg with his foot. "Your arm?! My leg's been dangling this whole time! You move over!" And with that, they start kicking each other's legs and stuffing their feel in the other's face until they find each other on the floor, piled on top of each other. "Look what you did!" Eddie's voice was upset and annoyed yet it revealed a bit of amusement as well. He pushed Richie off of him as the other boy replied : "What do you mean what I did?! You're the one who can't hold still! You're much more fun when you're asleep Eds." "Don't call me that!" He immediately clapped back, his eyes wide. "Aww you know you like it Spaghetti Man". Richie could practically hear Eddie's eyes roll out of his face as he sighed loudly. Yet he didn't say anything else, which left Richie with a big, goofy side smirk that screamed victory...


End file.
